


Redwoods and Rivieras

by julien (julie)



Category: due South
Genre: Car Sex, M/M, Outdoor Sex, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 1997-01-07
Updated: 1997-01-07
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:40:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21926857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/julie/pseuds/julien
Summary: Fraser and Ray are on holiday in California. At least, Fraserthoughtit was just a holiday… but Ray informs him that it’s actually their honeymoon. Appropriate activities ensue.
Relationships: Benton Fraser/Ray Vecchio
Kudos: 1





	Redwoods and Rivieras

**Author's Note:**

> **First published:** 7 January 1997 in my zine Pure Maple Syrup 5

# Redwoods and Rivieras 

♦

‘Jeez, Benny. When I think California, I think sun and sand and surf. I think looking cool in Ray-Bans, getting a tan, and you rubbing lotion all over me in public. I think shopping malls, and snubbing stars who you go out of your way to run into. I think walking down Castro Street holding your hand. Did I mention you getting your hands all over me due to the suntan lotion?’

‘Yes, Ray.’

‘What I _don’t_ think of when I think California is trekking through inland forests.’

‘Oh.’

‘I mean, is this any way to spend our honeymoon, trudging around amidst trees?’

‘Our honeymoon, Ray?’

The cop cast the Mountie a sour glare when Fraser turned around to look at him. ‘Isn’t that what this is?’ Ray demanded.

‘I suppose it is, yes. Now that I come to consider the notion.’ Fraser faced front again, and admired the tall redwoods, the light ground-cover, the dappled sunlight. ‘I suppose it is,’ he mused.

‘Yeah, we’ve been doing this together for… what, three months now?’

‘Two months, twenty-three days.’ Fraser glanced back at Ray again. ‘And sixteen hours.’ That earned him a chuckle.

‘And it’s not just a curiosity thing, or a best friends thing. It’s not a mucking around thing, or a lonely thing, or a making-do thing. It’s the real thing.’

‘Yes, Ray?’ Fraser said, hoping only to encourage the cop to tell him more.

‘We got the tests done, we can finally chuck the protection. It’s just you and me now.’

‘Yes, Ray.’

‘It’s true love, and we’re on our honeymoon, and you’re making me trek through forests.’

A silence drifted between them for a few minutes. They had already left the traffic noise behind – though the Avenue of the Giants road wasn’t overly busy anyway, for it was a weekday. The hush of the forest was full of peaceful rustling caused by a welcome cool breeze and an assortment of wildlife. _Perhaps_ , thought Fraser, _I won’t mention the wildlife to Ray_ … The redwoods towered overhead – and there was no better word than the cliché _towered_ to describe the sheer tallness of the trees.

‘Ray,’ Fraser ventured, ‘it seems to me to be a particularly magnificent forest.’

The cop made the nasal kind of _aaahhh_ that usually meant grudging agreement.

‘And I wouldn’t characterize it as a trek. This walking trail is quite an easy one, and I believe it is only six-tenths of a mile long.’

Quiet for a moment. The trail was about half a meter wide. It undulated and twisted and turned in gentle haphazardness, and was surfaced with soft woodchips. Fraser’s footsteps were virtually silent. Nevertheless, Ray was managing to audibly trudge. He announced, ‘These new shoes are killing me.’

‘Ah. Though, as you mentioned when you bought them, they do look rather cool.’

Behind Fraser, Ray came to a halt. When Fraser turned around, he saw Ray standing there staring down at his brand new walking boots. The Mountie stared at them, too. He had been quite amazed at the variety of serious footwear and other gear available these days, for all purposes and in all colors. Ray looked really rather attractive, decked out for hiking through mountains, in natural fibers and colors that complemented his pale olive-toned skin and his green-hazel eyes. Fraser himself was in his familiar old jeans, and a flannel shirt, and a pair of ankle-high leather boots he’d worn for so many years they felt like part of him. He wondered for a fleeting moment whether the cop could possibly find Fraser as attractive as the Mountie found Ray right now.

_True love_ , that’s what Ray Vecchio had just called this. Any doubts that Benton Fraser might still harbor were surely thereby declared null and void.

‘I think I’ve got a blister,’ Ray moaned.

‘Surely not. We’ve hardly walked even quarter of a mile.’

‘We were trudging around all those groves before.’

Fraser sighed. ‘Where’s the blister?’

‘On my toe.’

‘Which one?’

Ray shot him with a high caliber glare. ‘Maybe all ten.’

‘Ah.’ With an attitude of great forbearance, which he only half meant (and he knew that Ray knew that), Fraser walked back to his lover. His… husband. His spouse. His particularly significant other. They were all alone out here, and no one could see them from the road through all the trees and undergrowth. Fraser took Ray’s hand in his. ‘Come over here.’

Docile, Ray followed Fraser off the trail for a couple of meters, and allowed himself to be sat on a fallen tree trunk. Fraser knelt before him and began unlacing Ray’s rather cool walking boots. Ray watched him suspiciously, not helping, but apparently very wary of what Fraser might do. Carefully, Fraser eased the boots off, and then peeled off the socks, letting each elegant bare foot rest lightly on his knees. A visual inspection revealed no obvious injuries.

‘I don’t think there are any blisters,’ Fraser announced.

‘My feet hurt!’

‘Ray,’ Fraser said with a touch of genuine impatience, ‘you are being a baby.’

The lower lip trembled for a moment and then nudged its way out past its fellow, before settling into a full pout. And Ray knew exactly how adorable Fraser found him when he sulked, and that was _very_ adorable. Fraser’s heart surged and flowed within his chest, and he was so far in love with this man that the Mountie didn’t even mind that Ray could manipulate him so easily.

Slowly, Fraser lifted first one foot up in order to press a kiss to the narrow arch, and then the other. Such long tapered feet. Beautiful. Ray watched him, the lower lip still full, but a focused light in the hazel eyes. And Fraser knew by now what that focus meant – Ray was intently considering matters of a sexual nature.

Silence, the peaceful rustling silence of the forest. Sunlight dappled across Ray’s shorn head, the foliage behind him highlighted the green in his eyes. Gazing up at the man, Fraser began to gently massage the soles of Ray’s feet. The man’s eyelids drooped in appreciation.

‘Baby…’ Fraser murmured, with a touch of severity, though he was also trying the word out as an endearment. It didn’t feel quite right, but then he had never been one for endearments. ‘Ray, my love…’

They shared that for a while, Fraser’s hands working over Ray’s feet, there in the haven of the forest. Despite the newness of this love, despite the intensity of the passion they had each awoken in the other, despite the urge to rush into sexual interactions with all the finesse of teenagers – Ray and Fraser wanted so much more than that from each other, and they often managed to behave like patient and mature men in their mid-thirties. Often. Well, relatively often.

That lower lip refused to be ignored, however. At last Fraser carefully placed Ray’s feet to either side of his own thighs, and knelt up to kiss the man. Long moments of hunger answered and then incited again. Ray’s mouth mobile and demanding, all but begging for Fraser’s tongue. Rather than meet that request, Fraser caught the provocative lower lip between his teeth, and then teased his tongue-tip across the fullness of the captured flesh. Ray moaned, and then pulled away.

‘Not here,’ the cop whispered. ‘Not in public.’ His tone was needy.

Madness, really, to even consider it. But Ray seemed to assume that they could just… Fraser looked about him. They were still alone out here, but anyone could walk by on the trail. There was a ridge nearby, only a few meters behind where Ray was sitting. ‘Then let’s retire from view,’ Fraser suggested, standing up and indicating his objective with a tilt of his head.

Ray didn’t move. ‘I can’t walk. I can’t put those shoes on again.’

Fraser considered the man. ‘Baby.’ But his tone – endeavoring to be infuriated, but actually completely surrendering – revealed just how besotted he was with Ray Vecchio. Could the cop hear that? ‘Wait here,’ Fraser said.

Quickly gathering up Ray’s discarded boots and socks, and his own backpack, Fraser strode up and over the ridge. The ideal location soon presented itself. Fraser put their possessions down, then shrugged off his light coat, and spread it out on the ground – which was soft, though perhaps not comfortable enough for Chicago bones. It would have to do.

Fraser went back to where Ray waited, sitting there on the log. Deciding that a dramatic gesture was called for, Fraser bent down, and swept the man up into his arms. Ray was slim, but it still required an effort to carry him up the slope towards the ridge. An effort that Fraser enjoyed making, for anything physical with this man was wonderful.

And Ray’s arms lifted around Fraser’s shoulders, and Ray’s head tucked in close to his, and Ray was murmuring in Fraser’s ear… ‘Watching you,’ Ray whispered, ‘being with you, thinking of you, makes me so hard.’

He moaned. Fraser certainly didn’t mean to, but he moaned. It was so rare that Ray said things like that. They were at the top of the ridge now, and Fraser’s heartbeat and breathing rate were racing. Not simply due to the effort of carrying Ray.

‘You know how hard I am?’

Fraser shook his head in the negative, and started down the far slope to where he’d spread his coat.

‘I’m as hard as that tree.’

Not even knowing whether he really wanted for Ray to be saying such crude things, Fraser told him, ‘It’s a redwood, Ray.’

‘I’m as hard as a redwood.’

That tall narrow body curled up in his arms, that shorn head rubbing at Fraser’s throat, that strong embrace around his shoulders. Fraser lay the man down on his coat, tumbled after him into another hungry kiss.

And Ray was breaking away to whisper, ‘These trousers, they’re too tight.’

Patently untrue, for they were baggy trousers. Fraser felt a little uneasy at this, but he also felt full and overflowing with need. And he was willing to do anything with this man. Anything. Fraser knelt up, worked at Ray’s belt and zipper. Discovered all over again the glory of Ray’s manhood.

The cop lay sprawled there, head tilted back, as passive as Fraser had ever seen him. Cool shadows patterned across him, sunlight cast brightness shifting on sage cotton, olive skin, charcoal-silver hair. ‘Sooth me,’ Ray whispered, ‘sooth me with your tongue.’

Another involuntary moan escaped Fraser’s mouth. If he had known beforehand how unpredictable this man could be, if he had suspected the extremes of feeling and the instinctive reactions Ray would provoke in him – maybe Fraser wouldn’t have been quite brave enough to begin. Yes, despite the fact they had been the deepest of friends for over a year, and Fraser had trusted Ray implicitly from the very beginning – even so, Fraser had often felt utterly overwhelmed, his world had been overturned since he became this man’s lover. But he had no regrets. None.

Fraser used the flat of his tongue now to caress Ray’s genitals, stroking up the length of him, gentling the spheres tucked neatly away in his scrotum. Not waiting for further instructions, Fraser eased his hands around the narrow hips, spread palm and fingers across each of Ray’s buttocks, lifted the weight of him a few centimeters from the forest floor.

Ray was keening. The man was lying abandoned, his arms out to either side, having given himself over to the pleasure – and he was quietly, perhaps unknowingly, keening.

It felt like a blessing to Fraser, knowing he could cause that reaction in Ray Vecchio. Unexpected and wonderful that the city man would let himself surrender to this wildness. Would provoke Fraser in this manner…

Laughter and footsteps and people on the trail. Out of sight, but not out of hearing, obviously. Fraser pressed his face against Ray’s genitals, freed a hand to cover Ray’s mouth. That beautiful keening continued, though Fraser could feel it rather than hear it now, the sound vibrating high, seeming more a part of the sky above than of the man sprawled on the giving ground.

Fraser waited a few minutes, and then resumed his task, freeing Ray’s mouth again. A drop of semen welled at the tip of Ray’s penis, and Fraser lapped at it, greedy for more.

As Fraser’s tongue rasped across sensitive skin, Ray’s gasp interrupted the keening, and then there was a moment’s quiet before Ray said, ‘Benny.’

‘Yes?’

‘How hard are you, Benny?’

Fraser groaned and pressed his face into Ray’s groin again. Robust dark hair tickled his cheek – silky skin and relaxed muscle and engorged blood vessels all treated Fraser to a variety of textures and heady scents.

‘How hard are you?’

‘As hard as a redwood,’ Fraser at last replied.

‘Good. See those trees around us?’

‘Yes.’ Fraser turned his face a little to see the thick trunks amidst the pale green foliage of the ground-cover.

‘See how they thrust up into the sky?’

Almost dizzying, how high the trees reached up into infinite blue. ‘Yes.’

‘Do it, Benny.’ The cop’s eyes were closed, he hadn’t moved. Fraser lifted his head to watch the man. ‘Have me. Make yourself part of me. Benny love…’

‘I can’t, Ray.’ Anguish clutched his heart. ‘I can’t.’

‘Yes, you can.’

‘We don’t have anything –’

‘Don’t need condoms.’

‘Lubrication, Ray,’ he explained in despair.

‘Don’t need lube. Come on, you won’t hurt me. You’ve done it often enough that you won’t hurt me now.’

‘I _want_ to,’ Fraser said.

‘Then do it, love. Be part of me. I want you so bad, Benny, I want you inside of me…’ The words continued, provoking again, while Fraser fumbled in dragging Ray’s trousers off, baring those long shapely legs to the forest air. And then, in need and in doubt, Fraser thrust a finger into the man. Ray arched up, and the words dissolved again into the blissful keening.

Thighs taut, Ray pushed up, wanting more. For the moment, Fraser indulged him by bending over to lap at his genitals again, while gently working his finger in and out. When he realized that movement was an easy glide, Fraser decided he could proceed.

Rather than take his jeans off, Fraser withdrew from Ray and unbuttoned them, then pushed the denim down to his thighs. Ray stirred himself, wrapped his legs around Fraser’s waist, lifted himself – Fraser entered him so smoothly so comprehensively that the Mountie felt like he was at last finding home.

‘Yeah, Benny,’ Ray was saying, his breath panting heavily, ‘yeah, you’re part of me now. Be part of me, move in me. Love you, Benny, love you, want you to have me.’

A groan shaped itself in Fraser’s chest, but he was frightened of letting it loose. He planted his hands to either side of Ray’s torso, and began a ragged pattern of thrusts – Ray giving himself, ensuring he stayed with Fraser all the way, his legs gripping, his body curving and opening to Fraser. ‘Ray…’

‘Have me, have all of me. See those trees?’

‘Ray…’

And those soft-skinned city hands were reaching down, Ray taking his own genitals into his hands. ‘See the bark on those damned redwoods?’

‘Yes.’

‘Fuck me rough as that bark, Benny.’

The groan almost escaped him. Fraser was already doing this roughly, but he added another measure of urgency to the act.

Those beautiful hands were relentless in seeking Ray’s own completion. Fascinating to see Ray doing to himself what he loved best, to remember Ray doing equivalent things to Fraser, to dazedly try to remember what Ray liked so that Fraser would know what to do next time.

‘Ray…’

‘Benny, look up, look at the trees taking the sky. Take me like that.’

He closed his eyes for a moment, seeing the image in his mind, but not wanting to lose the sight of Ray himself. ‘I love you, Ray.’

‘Yeah…’

And the immediacy of this unprotected act, the rawness of putting this part of himself into that part of Ray, the sight of his lover handling himself so roughly, the joy of doing this of being this in the forest air in the sunshine – the groan unleashed itself within him, and as Fraser shot his seed into his lover his beloved, he let the pervasive sound of satisfaction roll out of him.

Quaking confusion, and Ray’s keening taking Fraser with it up through the blue sky, letting him fall gently back to earth to land in a sprawl of limbs with the most beautiful of men.

Silence, the peaceful quiet of the forest. Surprisingly enough, Ray seemed disinclined to move. Chicago skin and Chicago bones were apparently content to rest here in the sunlight, on a tangled coat and forest detritus. Fraser had never known, never even really guessed at happiness such as this.

At last the Mountie murmured, ‘Ray, did I hurt you?’

‘No…’ The cop let out a sigh. ‘Jeez, Benny. Next time you get a crazy idea like that, _warn_ a guy, would you?’

‘Me? Ray, I do believe that was your idea…’

‘Now, where would I get such an idea? I’m a city boy, you know me. I’m civilized. I do it in beds.’

‘But, Ray –’

‘Don’t apologize. I’m flattered. I mean, it’s not often I’ve been with someone who’ll just drop everything and jump my bones no matter where we are.’

‘Er, Ray –’

‘Well, OK. I’ve _never_ been with anyone who wanted me that bad. But you did. Didn’t you, Benny?’

Fraser lifted himself up onto an elbow, and gazed down into those green-hazel eyes. A moment stretched, candid there in the tousled half-naked freshness of their forest tryst. Ray’s semen cooled on both their bellies. ‘Yes,’ Fraser eventually said. ‘I wanted you that bad, Ray.’

‘Good.’ Having settled this to his satisfaction, Ray dislodged Fraser, sat up, and began pulling his trousers and shorts on.

‘Ray?’ Fraser frowned at the man, pondering the situation.

‘Yeah, Benny.’

‘If, er – if _you_ were to have a crazy idea like this. About, er – making love in an unexpected location or in unusual circumstances. What might that idea be?’

‘Jeez, I don’t know, Benny. You’re going to have to put some thought into that, aren’t you?’

Fraser blinked. And then he stood up, began rearranging his jeans. ‘Yes, Ray,’ he said. ‘I think I understand.’

‘Good.’

Ray was almost fully-dressed, and the boots were now eased on with no indication of blisters or pain. Fraser took a step closer, leaned in to press a kiss to Ray’s temple. ‘Thank you,’ Fraser whispered.

And Ray met his gaze, and grinned. Broadly. Wickedly. Beautifully. ‘Love you, Benny…’

♦

Fraser put a great deal of thought into what Ray’s crazy idea might be. The location – indeed the entire why and where and how of the matter – seemed obvious to Fraser as soon as he put his mind to it. Perhaps too obvious? He didn’t want to let Ray down through a lack of creativity or adventurousness, after all.

Actually, Fraser felt rather foolish. He’d thought this through carefully, he’d planned ahead, it was an activity they could easily accommodate during their drive north through the forests of California, the weather had remained appropriately pleasant – but what if it all went wrong somehow? What if it wasn’t something that Ray wanted? Fraser trusted Ray enough to know that the cop would not be cruel in his disappointment, the Mountie would not be teased in a malicious manner, Ray would not hold failure against Fraser. But, still, Fraser was loath to let Ray down. And the cop had set a rather intense and beautiful and surprising precedent for the Mountie to measure his own efforts against.

The relevant stretch of road was fast approaching. Ray, in deference to Fraser and to the occasion of their honeymoon, had been keeping to the speed limit – or only exceeding it by five miles per hour, if that. He was sitting there now, in the driver’s seat of the Riviera, relaxed and content. Ray’s left elbow was propped on the door, but he had both hands on the wheel, and he was paying suitable attention to the driving conditions.

There had been no other cars on the road for some minutes, very few in the last hour, and Fraser could see none ahead. The Riviera was eased down around a right-hand curve, and began powering up the slope of a hill. The speed limit increased to sixty-five as the road became a freeway.

_Well_ , thought Fraser, _it’s now or never_.

‘I’ve always admired the way you drive, Ray,’ he commented.

The cop had been lost in thought. After a moment, Ray turned his head to glance at Fraser. ‘What was that, Benny?’

Fraser cleared his throat. This wasn’t an auspicious beginning. ‘I’ve always admired the way you drive the Riviera. I don’t understand the bond between you and your car, but it is obvious that there _is_ a bond, and that it is very significant.’

‘Sure,’ Ray said, glancing at him again as if to ask, _What the hell_ …?

‘A bond. An understanding. You know the car, and its responses, and you drive it accordingly. You know how to coax the best performance from it.’

Ray was staring directly at him now, only occasionally glancing back at the road. Fraser had chosen this stretch of freeway for that very reason – it seemed well-designed and well-built enough for Ray to safely pay it minimal attention.

‘For example,’ Fraser continued, ‘the hill we just negotiated was quite steep. However, you kept the Riviera’s speed constant at exactly sixty-five during the entire climb.’

‘Yeah, so?’

‘It seems to be quite a sensual experience for you. The car seems to function as an extension of yourself, and it therefore enables you to express a power that might otherwise remain dormant within you.’

A brief silence stretched. Ray let the car coast down a long hill, and the speed crept up to seventy. ‘You’re saying this is a control thing?’

‘No, Ray.’

‘You’re saying it’s a power thing?’

‘No.’

‘You’re not going to tell me it’s a compensation thing?’

Fraser shot the man the driest of glances. ‘No, Ray.’

‘Good. You’re telling me it’s a sex thing.’

‘In a manner of speaking.’ Fraser stared through the windshield, unsure how to continue.

Ray took them around a left-hand curve, hugging it all the way, speed constant. It really was a very well-engineered road. Eventually Ray said, ‘Are you asking me if driving the Riviera turns me on?’

‘Yes, Ray.’ _Thank you, Ray_.

‘And you won’t think it’s silly if I tell you that it does?’

‘Oh no, Ray. As I said, I don’t really understand, but the bond exists, and I have observed the effects of it at many different times, and I have often appreciated the results. Actually, I am reminded of riding horses.’

‘Riding horses turns you on, Benny?’

‘Occasionally,’ Fraser admitted, aware of the slightest edge of defensiveness in his tone.

Ray chuckled for a moment. Not cruelly – he chuckled appreciatively. ‘Yeah, Benny,’ he eventually said, ‘when I’m in the right mood, which I’m embarrassed to say is fairly frequently, driving the Riv definitely turns me on.’

Another silence. Ray took the Riviera through a series of broad curves, handling the car as if it was simply part of him – a part of Ray that he was at his most comfortable with. The phenomenon was rather wonderful to watch.

‘What’s your point, Benny?’

‘My point?’ he repeated faintly.

‘Yeah, come on. I can tell you’re not done yet. So, driving the Riv turns me on. What about it?’

‘Ah.’ Fraser swallowed hard. He’d done all right so far, he supposed, though there were two more rocks on which he could founder. And this was one of them. ‘Well, Ray, I was simply going to extend the metaphor.’

‘Mmm?’ Ray prompted encouragingly.

There was nothing else for it now. ‘Watching you handle the car with… finesse and, er, love and an awareness of it. A sensuality. Watching you knowing its responses, and working the best performance from it. This makes me think of how you make love to me.’

Ray was smiling happily. ‘Ah,’ he said. ‘So, _watching_ me drive the Riv turns you on?’

‘Oh yes.’

‘That’s cool.’

Fraser found he had turned slightly in the passenger seat so that he could see this man and talk to him. Hushed, Fraser asked, ‘Are you turned on right now, Ray?’

‘Oh yeah,’ the cop replied, genuine though amused. Perhaps amused at himself and his own reactions.

‘How, er… how hard are you?’

With an appreciative chuckle, Ray replied, ‘As hard as the Riv, Benny. As hard as the Riv.’

‘So am I, Ray.’

Ray was grinning broadly, and staring ahead through the windshield, carefully _not_ looking at Fraser. He now knew what Fraser was attempting. ‘What are we going to do about that, do you think?’

This was the other tricky part. What if Ray didn’t find the suggested solution appealing? What if it was either unthinkable or completely banal? ‘I was wondering, Ray, if you’d ever actually made love. Er, on the back seat of the Riviera.’

Ray was staring at him again.

Fraser just _knew_ he was blushing. And then something awful occurred to him. ‘I don’t mean to pry, I’m sorry, Ray. What I really meant was to ask whether you’d like to make love with me…’

‘Yeah, in the back seat.’

‘Yes.’

‘That’s one crazy idea,’ Ray commented.

‘You’re known for them.’

‘Thank you. And where do you think we might do that?’

‘Well, I believe that in a mile or two we will reach a side road on the left. I’m sure that we could locate a sheltered area in the surrounding forest where we could indulge your, er, crazy idea.’

‘All right,’ said Ray.

They were silent then. Fraser felt he should be continuing to talk to Ray in the crude manner that Ray had employed to such good effect while they were amongst the redwoods. But Fraser also felt, rather strongly, that he had already managed about as much as he could. Ray seemed more serious now, driving with intent, not even glancing at Fraser.

‘The turning,’ Fraser said, seeing a dirt track leading off into the forest at the bottom of the hill they were descending.

Ray nodded, slowing the car smoothly, gradually. A truck passed them in the fast lane, but there was no other traffic.

‘Do you mind the dirt road?’ Fraser asked anxiously.

‘We’ll cope.’

Fraser watched as those sensitive hands spun the wheel. The dull purr of the freeway changed to the rough rumble of the track. He let Ray navigate – let Ray take a turn, and then another, until they were almost two miles into the forest and there was no sign of anyone else. Ray parked the car, backing it into a space between a group of trees. He turned the ignition off, and silence fell. The two men sat there, staring at the splash of sunlight on the dirt and then the twilight under the trees opposite them.

‘Of course,’ said Ray, ‘I’m counting on you being able to get us back to civilization from here.’

‘Of course,’ said Fraser.

And then they sat there some more.

‘Benny.’

‘Yes, Ray?’

‘You want me to… handle you with finesse. I don’t know that I can do that in the Riv’s back seat. I mean, there’s not too much room there. We’re not teenagers, we’re both six feet tall. You might have to make do with something quick and dirty.’

‘That’s all right, Ray. I understand.’

But still neither of them made a move. At last Ray said, ‘I don’t want to let you down, Benny. I just don’t want to let you down.’

‘You won’t.’

‘Aaahhh,’ Ray said, in that disgusted tone of voice he only ever used in relation to himself.

‘You can’t, Ray. You cannot let me down, for the simple reason that you’re you. You’re always true to who you are –’

‘No, I’m not.’

‘With me, you are.’ Fraser gave the man a smile. ‘And if you’re being you, then you can’t possibly let me down.’

‘Oh,’ said Ray. There was something about his voice, a catch to it. Fraser suspected that Ray might be close to tears.

‘I understand,’ Fraser offered. ‘When I was thinking of what we might do today, I feared letting you down. Not being imaginative enough. I didn’t want to disappoint you.’

‘You never disappoint me,’ Ray whispered. And, without looking at Fraser, he put out his hand, wanting it to be held.

Obliging him, Fraser said, ‘I suppose we’ll just have to proceed on that basis – that we will never let each other down.’

‘It’s a lot to live up to.’

‘No, it isn’t. Quite the opposite. Surely it frees us from expectations of being anything more or less than exactly who we are.’ Fraser tightened his grasp on Ray’s hand. ‘I love you, Ray Vecchio.’

Ray wrapped his free hand over his eyes. ‘God, we’d better get in the back seat before I ruin the mood entirely.’

‘All right,’ Fraser said, and he reached to open his door.

‘But, Benny – can I get something off my chest?’

‘Of course.’ Fraser settled again.

‘I’ve done it before. In a Riv. Not _this_ particular Riv, but I have done that. I’m sorry.’ And, the worst of his confession over, Ray uncovered his face again.

‘There’s no need to apologize.’

‘But if you wanted to be the first –’

‘That wasn’t my intention.’

Ray sighed, and gazed studiously out the driver’s side window. ‘I wish I could say you’re my first _something_ , Benny. I wish I could. But I’ve been around a bit. You’re not my first guy, that wasn’t my first outdoors fuck, you’re not my first in the back seat of a Riv, this isn’t my first honeymoon, you’re not even my first true love. I wish you were.’

‘It’s not important to me, Ray.’

‘Well, it is to me.’

Fraser reached again for the hand that had pulled away from his. ‘Then we’ll need to be very imaginative, and think of something I can be your first for.’

A reluctant smile curled Ray’s lips. ‘I guess we can do that.’ Their hands twisted deeper into each other’s grasp. ‘It might take a _lot_ of imagination,’ Ray warned.

‘We have a great deal of that between us,’ Fraser assured the man. ‘And we’ll have years during which we can test the limits of our creativity.’

The forest sighed around them. They could have been quite alone in the world for all they knew.

Fraser offered, ‘In any case, I’d like to be your last, Ray.’ And then he realized how that sounded. ‘I mean, if we should lose each other along the way, for whatever reason, I don’t intend for you to remain chaste. What I meant to say is that I’d like us to be together for all our lives, and therefore I’ll be your _last_ true love.’

A silence before Ray whispered, ‘I’d like that, too, Benny.’ The man cleared his throat, and said in a lighter tone, ‘I suppose that makes you my first actual happy-ever-after, right?’

‘Right.’ And when Ray finally turned to look at him, Fraser smiled.

Ray didn’t seem able to help himself – he began smiling, too. ‘Loony Mountie,’ he said. ‘Let’s get back there and do this.’

They each got out of the car, released the front seats and pushed them forward, and then the two men clambered into the back.

Fraser feared some awkwardness, but Ray was sitting there grinning in anticipation, holding his arms out, saying, ‘God, I love you, Benny,’ and Fraser went into that embrace thinking _Home_.

The mood was certainly not as urgent as it had been when Ray seduced Fraser in the redwood forest. It was, however, very pleasant sitting there cramped up together, with Fraser’s arms around his lover’s waist, and Ray holding him firmly around the shoulders. There was enough room, especially with the front seats leaning forward, to let this happen.

‘So,’ Ray murmured, ‘you watching me driving gets you hard, hard as the Riv…’

‘Yes,’ said Fraser, shifting in Ray’s embrace. Shifting closer, and then simply moving for the sake of maximizing the contact between them.

‘You like watching me and the Riv power up hills…’ Ray pressed a kiss to Fraser’s temple, and his hands began kneading at Fraser’s clothes, massaging his flesh.

‘Yes.’

‘You like watching me push the Riv around corners, hugging the curves, speeding round the wide ones, finding the line and easing through the tight ones…’

‘Ray…’ Fraser lifted his face, but Ray wasn’t done talking yet, so the Mountie pressed urgent kisses to Ray’s throat.

‘You appreciate that the Riv and I understand each other. You want you and me to have a similar understanding.’

‘Yes.’

‘You like watching me handle the Riv, and it makes you think of how I handle you…’

‘Ray, please.’

‘You know how hard you’ve got me, talking like that?’

Fraser shook his head, rubbed his face against the neck and shoulder he rested on.

‘As hard as the Riv, Benny love. Here, feel me…’ Ray caught one of Fraser’s hands in his, brought it to his groin, wrapped Fraser’s palm and fingers over the hardness in question.

‘Ray…’ The urgency had by now returned in full measure. Fraser could feel himself pressing uncomfortably against the buttons of his jeans. Then he gasped as Ray’s hand settled on the denim there, settled for a moment before beginning to rub the length of him.

‘I love you, Benny,’ Ray was muttering, shifting down, working his face over Fraser’s hair and throat and shoulder. ‘I love that it’s you, I love that you’re a man, I can’t get enough of you no matter what I do, do you know that?’ And they were both moving against each other, shifting and rubbing within their close embrace, crude but effective while still fully-dressed. ‘I’ll never get enough of you.’

‘But you’ll keep trying,’ Fraser said.

‘Oh yeah, this is happy-ever-after. And I love women, I really do, and I’ve had other guys, and I could have had happy-ever-after with a woman – but I’m glad it’s you, I’m glad you’re a man, I’m so damned nuts about you it frightens me. Sometimes it frightens me.’

‘It frightens me, too, Ray.’

‘No, Benny love, don’t be scared, don’t be scared.’

With that, they were kissing, a full mouth-to-mouth devouring. If Fraser had known how serious this relationship would prove to be, maybe he’d never have had the nerve to begin. But he had, and there was no going back, and he didn’t even want there to be a way back. He just wanted this, here, with Ray. Fraser wanted to be home, here and now, with Ray.

As the man broke away again, Ray’s torrent of words recommenced. ‘I love you, I love _who_ you are, I love _what_ you are. Damn it, Benny,’ and he let out a breathless laugh, ‘three months, and I still get this worked up.’

‘So do I, Ray.’

‘I’ll tell you a secret.’ Ray waited a moment, waited until Fraser met his gaze, and then Ray leaned his head a little closer so they were touching forehead to forehead. ‘It’s getting worse, Benny. You get me harder and harder, hotter and hotter, all the time.’

‘Then it’s getting better, Ray, not worse.’

‘Is it like that for you, too?’

‘Yes,’ he confessed, glad that Ray was now sure enough of their relationship to at last unload three months’ worth of talk about it.

Ray whispered, ‘God, what did we get ourselves into?’

‘True love.’

Another kiss, intense and involving. Too involving – Ray’s hand was working at Fraser’s manhood with obvious intent. Fraser was caught up in the same urgent instinct, the same chase to completion. This could all be over so quickly…

‘No,’ Fraser said, trying to pull away.

‘What?’ A touch of impatience, and then concern. ‘What’s wrong, Benny love?’

‘I wanted – I thought this would be the equivalent of what we did in the forest.’

‘You want to fuck me?’

‘No.’ Fraser felt himself flush. They’d so rarely used that word, even though the ones they had used were inexact. ‘I want you to have me, Ray.’

‘Ah.’

‘I want… you to be a part of me. Like you said I’ve become a part of you. The act in question is powerful in its meaning as well as its physical pleasure.’

Too many words, Fraser discovered. The mood had changed, lessened, and Ray was gaping. It was certainly true that the Italian-American was far better than the Canadian at creating or maintaining an atmosphere through words.

‘I’m sorry, Ray.’

‘No, don’t be sorry,’ the man quickly replied. ‘I’d love to do that, really I would, Benny. But there isn’t much room back here. Certainly no room to do it with finesse. Can you wait until we’re in a bed?’

‘If we must. But I was hoping…’

‘You’ve been planning this, haven’t you?’ the cop suddenly asked.

‘Well, yes. You said I should put some thought into it.’

Ray pressed a kiss to Fraser’s temple. ‘God, you’re incredible. You want me to become a part of you, here in the Riv.’

‘Yes.’

The man let out a needy groan, caught Fraser up close. ‘I want that, too. But, how? I guess you’ve got it figured out, right?’

‘Yes, I believe so.’

‘Then show me how, lover,’ Ray demanded.

Ray was obviously ready for it. Fraser maintained contact with those green-hazel eyes, while unzipping Ray’s trousers. Following suit, the cop began working one-handed at the buttons of Fraser’s jeans. Without being quite sure who started it, Fraser discovered they were smiling at each other, which was really rather pleasant.

It would have been sensible for each of them to deal with their own clothes, but they didn’t. In a confusion of kisses pressed to whatever flesh was available, and sitting far too close to each other, they pushed and tugged at denim and cotton and linen until both men were exposed.

Then Fraser leaned in to kiss Ray’s lips. The cop made it a magical kiss, slow and sensual. Another change in pace. Inch by inch, Fraser shifted them both, drawing Ray down to lie behind him – moving himself around to fit his rear against Ray’s groin. And they were kissing still, mouth-to-mouth or mouth-to-throat or wherever else either could reach. Until at last Fraser was lying on his side along the seat, with his legs tucked up before him, and Ray was propped up, leaning over Fraser to kiss him some more, Ray’s legs tangled up – but it was possible, it would happen like this.

As Fraser had done for Ray, now Ray used a finger to ready him, still kissing Fraser’s mouth and face and throat. Beautiful. Cramped and strange, and beautiful. Eventually Ray shifted down a little further, until they fitted snugly together, and Ray began entering him. There was no pain, only rawness. Only the wonder of taking Ray inside of him, making his love a part of him.

The green-hazel eyes didn’t leave his own gaze. Incredible to share this intimacy still further. Ray settled against him, and they were one creature lying there curled up together. Entirely one.

Ray reached to caress Fraser’s manhood, and between them they began to build to a potent mutual completion. Though he had promised no finesse, Ray scrupulously found and caressed the internal gland that made this act as physically wonderful for Fraser as it was emotionally. And it was done, and they were part of each other, and no one could ever put them asunder.

‘Ray!’ Fraser cried in warning – but Ray let him, in fact Ray _made_ Fraser spatter his seed against the green vinyl of the Riviera’s front seats. Fraser’s physical reactions, and perhaps all the awe Ray saw in Fraser’s eyes, triggered Ray’s climax. And they shared even that. ‘Ray…’

‘God, Benny love…’

They stayed there for a while, perhaps only a few minutes, though long enough to return to some degree of equilibrium. And long enough to realize that they were going to become rather uncomfortable very soon.

‘It’s been quite the honeymoon,’ Ray commented.

‘Yes, it has.’

Ray shifted, and they began the task of wiping and rearranging and regathering.

But Fraser owed this man the truth. ‘Ray?’

‘What?’ When there was no immediate reply, Ray stilled, and looked at him. They were dressed again, though they hadn’t yet left the back seat. ‘What is it, Benny? Not another crazy idea…’

‘No.’ Fraser closed his eyes for a moment, and then found that green-hazel gaze, the eyes that had shared Ray’s orgasm with Fraser. What intimacy could Fraser possibly fear now? ‘Forgive me, Ray, if I didn’t always realize what this would mean to us. Forgive me if I haven’t always regarded you or treated you in the manner you deserve.’

‘Hey,’ Ray murmured, ‘don’t be doing that. We worked around to this, right? We took our time, we made sure.’

‘And it’s not a mucking around thing,’ Fraser confirmed.

Ray smiled, and ran a hand down Fraser’s thigh. This was a beautiful man, wicked. Provoking. ‘It’s not _just_ a mucking around thing,’ Ray Vecchio said. And he chuckled.

Benton Fraser followed him out of the Buick Riviera, seriously wondering if there was any way of knowing whether he was actually the luckiest man in the world. And then he decided that he didn’t need any proof – he just knew. He just knew.

♦


End file.
